Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia

Hardcover - USA - 1st edition.

Author Katherine Paterson Published 1977-10-21 Type Fiction Genre Drama Themes Atheism, Childhood, Coming of age, Drama, Friendship, Religion, School Age Group Children

Bridge to Terabithia is a young adult book by Katherine Paterson and first published on 1977-10-21. Paterson drew inspiration for the book from real events. The book is frequently challenged and black-listed in public libraries because it deals with topics like death and questioning religion.

It's a story about two outcasts grade school students, Jess and Leslie, who become friends. To escape from being tormented in school and ostracized at home, they enter a magical forest kingdom called Terabithia which they created from their own imaginations.

Personal

Own?	No.
Read?	Hardcover, Harper / Digital / Audiobook read by Robert Sean Leonard.
Finished	2008 / 2010s / 2024-01-18.

The first time I knew anything about this book was from an example sentence in an elementary school textbook which quoted a sentence from the book as an example for the use of simile. At the time, I didn't know the sentence was from a book. In 2007, I saw the trailer for the film adaption, and thought it looked pretty good, but I decided I should read the book first. I bought a copy of book in 2008 and, in the first chapter, was shocked to recognized the example sentence I had read about 20 years earlier. Upon finishing the book I absolutely adored the story, and was eager to watch the film. I was thoroughly disappointed by the two-hour-long special effect movie which turned Leslie, a plain brown-haired tomboy, into a blonde manic pixie dream girl. Shameful. I have since learned that the book was made into a low-budget movie in 1985, but I have yet to see it.

I used to own the Harper hardcover edition, but I lent it to someone and never got it back. I read that hardcover, a digital version, and listened to an audiobook recording.

Review

Overall:

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The book is well-written, exciting, and interesting through the whole story.
• The author does a great job at articulating the thoughts, feelings, and actions of children. Most of the characters are fleshed out, even the villains have depth.
  • Jess frequently has fights with his siblings, particularly his self-obsessed older sisters.
  • Jess's crush on his music teacher is described very authentically.
  • Leslie, despite being very talented, is still easily embarrassed and emotionally hurt about being an outcast.
  • May Belle worships her older brother, and while Jess finds her annoying, he still cares for her greatly.
  • School kids are frequently fighting each other for status and teasing each other's weaknesses.
• I love the friendship that grows between Jess and Leslie over the course of the book.
• It's interesting that
• Despite the author being the daughter and wife of preachers, she doesn't go easy on religion:
  • May Belle's fear of church and terrified reaction to learning that Leslie doesn't believe in hell is an accurate description of how Christianity horrifies children when they're too young to mentally defend themselves.
  • Jess's parents, though both raised Christian each have their qualms with the church.
  • Leslie, who was raised in a secular family, ends up enjoying church far more than everyone who was raised religious.
• I like how Paterson indirectly explains that bullies are made to be cruel due to things outside their control and, because of that, should be helped rather than hurt.
• There is good use of foreshadowing throughout the book.
• The has a lot to teach children about loss and it does so in a way that is very genuine and hits you hard right in the feels.

Bad

• The book goes a little overboard on it's use of similes. A couple seemed forced rather than organic.
• Leslie's lack of belief in Christianity is seen as a punishment worthy of hell, even Jess thinks it, and, in the end, while there push back from Jess's father, none of the other characters really change their viewpoint. While this is, sadly, accurate to real life, I would have preferred if the event was used to help teach the characters to be less eager to damn.
• The book has quite a bit of unnecessary fat-shaming. Everyone mocks the bigger people and nobody ever even mentions that it's a bad thing to do. This too is sadly accurate to real life, but, I felt like this was a learning moment that was left unrealized.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

• 

  Hardcover, USA, Crowell. This is the first art used on the book. It's pretty awful. The background looks like a petri dish and Jess (or is it Leslie) looks like an albino. I guess this was meant to look like one of Jess's drawings, but he never draws Leslie in the book.

• 

  Paperback, USA, Avon Camelot. Same awful art from the original, only, this time, the kids are caught in a forest fire!

• 

  Hardcover, USA, New Windmills. Kind of terrible. The kids are creepy looking, and it makes the book look like it's about two kids who get a puppy.

• 

  Paperback, Unknown, Puffin. Hideous kids in bell-bottoms perform a Satanic ritual in the black forest. Fancy!

• 

  Unknown, USA, Unknown. Looks like a 1980s release. The art is well-made, but the kids just look bored.

• 

  Hardcover, USA, Unknown. It just looks like Jess is trying to yank down the tree. The art is technically good, it's just a boring scene.

• 

  Mass market, USA, Harper. The strange lighting around the ramshackle fort and gnarled old tree give an air of mystery. A pretty good cover.

• 

  Hardcover, USA, Harper. The soft lines and silhouettes give this art a nice dreamy quality. I like it.

• 

  Paperback, Unknown, Puffin. Looks like two kids playing on a rope swing while the forest burns.

• 

  Paperback, USA, Harper. The 40th anniversary art is wonderful. The watercolor gives it a dreamy feel, and the castle in the background is nice. I like that both kids and PT are included. My only problem is that the rope is clearly not long enough to cross the ravine.

• 

  Paperback, USA, Puffin. Wonderful ink art, great use of color, illustrates the feel of the story.

• 

  Paperback, USA, Puffin. This release uses a promo picture from the 2007 movie. The blue and orange palette is overused, but it certainly looks interesting. However, Leslie is not supposed to be a manic pixie dream girl.

• 

  Unknown, UK, Puffin. This looks like a completely unrelated photo from a summer camp.

• 

  Paperback, UK, Puffin. A crotch-shot of a ten-year-old. Great work Puffin!

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	There are a lot of women in the book, but Leslie is the only strong one.
Bechdel test?	Pass	Jess's sisters and mother frequently talk to each other about a variety of topics throughout the book, and Leslie talks to several women as well.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	There aren't any people of color.
Queer character?	Fail	There aren't any queer people.

Quotes

• She just took off running to the old Perkins place. He couldn't help turning to watch. She ran as though it was her nature. It reminded him of the flight of wild ducks in the autumn. So smooth. The word "beautiful" came to his mind, but he shook it away and hurried up to his house.
• He felt there in the teachers' room that it was the beginning of a new season in his life, and he chose deliberately to make it so. He did not have to make any announcement to Leslie that he had changed his mind about her. She already knew it.
• Those girls could get out of work faster than grasshoppers could slip through your fingers.
• It's like the smarter you are, the more things can scare you.
• Now it was time for him to move out. She wasn't there, so he must go for both of them. It was up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength.
• You think it's so great to die and make everyone cry and carry on. Well it ain't.
• He may not have been born with guts, but he didn't have to die without them.
• Church always seemed the same. Jess could tune it out the same way he tuned out school, with his body standing up and sitting down in unison with the rest of the congregation but his mind numb and floating, not really thinking or dreaming but at least free.

Links